Morris Ouma owns a 2003 Toyota Celica which he has christened ‘Baby Boy’. He is the second owner of the two-door vehicle. In his man cave, he has two photos that he has taken with the car. “I took the photo on my right on the day I bought it in September 2023. The one on the left is the vehicle as it is today,” he says.
The two photos are as distinct as heaven and earth. You see, in the first photo, his Celica was just like any other ordinary-looking Toyota Celica on a Kenyan road; silver in colour with fading shades and ordinary rims. In the second photo, his Celica is a mint green with vertical doors, chrome wheels, modern headlights, LED tails, and a carbon fibre rear trunk spoiler boot wing. “I had always fantasized that I would buy an ordinary ride and transform it into pimped elegance. When I saw this Celica on sale, I knew this was my moment to turn my fantasy from a pipedream into a reality,” he says.
Getting his vehicle pimped to stand out the way it does today was not easy. Morris says that he tried two garages before he finally got an auto garage that met his specifications. “I was first referred to a garage in Ngara. I knew they wouldn’t cut it the moment I got there. It was just an ordinary garage that primarily handled accident vehicles,” he says. The mechanics were perplexed at why he would want to alter the design of his vehicle. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, they appeared to suggest. “It was new concept for them. They couldn’t comprehend what I wanted or even why I wanted to pimp my ride.”
He then got another garage along Thika Superhighway. Whereas this garage was better equipped and more conversant with vehicle customization, Morris says that they didn’t have any kits with them. “The owner had seen customized vehicles with the type of spoilers and converted lambo vertical doors I was referring to. However, I would later learn that his manpower had never handled a conversion of such magnitude before. His plan was to outsource the job,” he says.
This gave Morris immense doubts. “I became overly dubious. If they didn’t have the kits, how would I be sure that they would get the right equipment?” He pulled from the plan, dejected that his enthusiasm would never come into fruition.
His fortunes changed in December 2023 when a colleague to one of his social acquaintances referred him to Sir Outsourcing Customs, a modifications and customization garage in Ruiru.
“I met the garage owner Dennis Mwangi and the lead mechanic on site. It was a different ball game altogether. The garage had a whole catalogue of vehicles they had modified and customized ranging from installation of vertical doors, grills, and spoilers and front and rear bumper,” he says.
His vehicle was examined and the lead mechanic listed all the accessories that were required. “All the accessories were imported from Dubai when the owner also runs a customization garage,” says Morris. In a span of less than a month, customization work on his vehicle had begun.
“I couldn’t believe the results when I went to pick the vehicle. I had to double check the registration just to be sure that this was my car that I was looking at,” he says. “I had some expectation on how the final product would like, but Sir Outsourcing surpassed them all.”
READ MORE: How my love for cars birthed multi-million vehicle pimping business
Since then, Morris has referred three of his car enthusiast buddies to Sir Outsourcing. “They don’t have vintage cars like mine. One owns a 2014 Toyota Prado, the other owns a Subaru Legacy and my third buddy owns a Mercedes Benz E350,” he says. “Their vehicles have all been modernized with new kits.”
The successful modification of Morris’ Celica and those of his friends is perhaps the result of working with a fellow car enthusiast who started his business from pimping his own vehicle.
“I have always been fascinated by customized cars, and the inspiration and thought that goes into modifying them without compromising on safety,” says Mwangi. “I actually started my customization business by transforming my Nissan Caravan. I invested my savings into this project and spent days researching, purchasing and installing custom parts until I finally turned my Caravan into a masterpiece on wheels.”
Apart from his Ruiru garage, Mwangi says that he has customization garages in Karen and Dubai. “I have also advanced and have teams internationally. We are now dealing with all major vehicle models including Toyota Land Cruisers, Bentleys, Range Rovers, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, BMWs, Tesla, Lamborghinis, Feraris, Covettes, Rolls Royce, McLaren, Land Rover, Porsche, Volkswagen, Jetour, Skoda, and Mini Coopers,” he says.
Mwangi – who is also the founder and chief executive officer of Ostaz Logistics & Agencies – points out that his business products and services include upgrading of body kits and facelifts, all vehicle accessories, exhaust upgrades, engine upgrades, interior upgrades, wraps and tints, custom designs, performance upgrades, and all new and used vehicle parts.
“Because of the costs involved, we have made it mandatory that we must offer the best quality in the market to ensure we not only satisfy our customers, but also gain referrals. You will never gain referrals in business with substandard work,” he says.
Mwangi’s Sir Outsourcing Customs can be reached via +254743450007 in Nairobi and +971508214589 in Dubai.
